What Are the Key Ideas Behind the Risk Thesis? How Do They Relate to Social Policy and the Welfare State?

What are the key ideas behind the risk thesis? How do they relate to social policy and the welfare state?

Undoubtedly, insecurity, fear and risk have come to dominate more mundane aspects of our everyday life. Social policy theorists, such as Paul Johnson defines social risk as ‘The probability weighted uncertainty that derives from the changing and dynamic world in which people lives.’(quoted in Alcock et al. 2008:21). In the following essay the concept of ‘risk society’ will be explored even further in order to examine the key ideas of the risk thesis and how those relate to social policy and the welfare state. After some light has been shed on historical notions of risk, the focus of the essay will move to a contemporary society. Here it can be clearly seen to what extent risks have evolved in relation to the times we live in and this will be especially explored in the terms of individualization, unemployment, health, terrorism and environmental concerns.

Risks theorists have outlined three main discourses in European thought upon risk. According to Giddens (1999), all previous cultures were characterized by Pre-Renaissance thoughts. It can be argued that risks were seen as the products of fate, destiny and will of the gods. However, nowadays the idea of risk is strongly linked to modernity, defined by authors such as Beck and Giddens as ‘the process and institutions of industrialization. (quoted in Kemshall 2002:4). As a result of modernization, there are not only ‘external risks’, coming from the impact of nature upon us, but also ‘manufactures risks’ which are products of human activity, for instance environmental risks or even social ones because our personal futures are increasingly open and therefore, it is possible for individuals to assess the calculability of risk taken. On the other hand, it can be suggested that post- modernity has challenge the ‘myth of calculability’, because as Giddens states: ‘post- modernity offers little help as to which options should be selected. (quoted in Kemshall 2002: 5).

Sociologists such as Beck and Giddens clearly examine the fact that the movement form pre-modern societies to modernity and late modernity have lead to greater uncertainties in our contemporary society such as poverty, unemployment and ecological disasters. Undoubtedly we live in a ‘risk society’. Beck (1992) argues that the successful development of technology helps us to produce enough to meet people’s essential needs, however it creates a ‘boomerang affect’ because as Beck points out technology and science create more problems than simply solving them. It can be argued that those who benefits form production and consumption suffer its consequences. To support his theory, Beck provides us with many emperical evidences which illustrate the problem of risk society. It is true that thanks to development in agriculture, the rich countries no longer have problems with shortage food, but the plentiful supply of processed food has created consequences of health problems such as obesity. Similarly, atomic energy helps to produce energy supplies but it creates serious health risk because of nuclear waste and accidents such as those more recently (oil spill in America) and those in the past (Chernobyl nuclear reactor disaster). Particularly, Beck outlines the fact that those disasters are global concerns, rather than local and affect all people, regardless of age or class, because you cannot protect yourself against them by having a high income. In the term of unemployment, Beck also argues that it affects all classes. For example the financial crisis of United Kingdom in 2007-2010 affected not only working class but also middle class people. Therefore social inequality is individualized because people experience risk as individuals rather than a members of a particular class. Drawing upon ideas of Beck and Giddens, Nettleton and Burrows (1998) argues that increased risks in our contemporary societies made...

...Latino Immigrants and SocialWelfarePolicy
Page 1 of 6
Latino Immigrants and SocialWelfarePolicy
Overview of the Issue
This essay will examine the plight of Latino immigrants; review the opposing opinions
concerning providing socialwelfare for Latino immigrants; and explain and justify the authors’
opinion concerning this urgent national concern.
Immigration is an increasingly divisive issue in the U.S. Significant numbers of
immigrants working and living in the U.S., combined with mounting negative public opinion
concerning immigration and the lack of Congressional progress toward immigration reform has
escalated the vitriolic debate on both sides of the issue. Media attention about the recent surge of
unattended, undocumented children entering the U.S. from Central America has further escalated
the rhetoric.
The number of immigrants to the U.S. has steadily increased. In the 1930’s a total of
250,000 people legally immigrated into the U.S., that increased to 2.5 million per in the 1950’s,
7.3 million in the 1970’s, 10 million in the 1990’s, and currently about 1 million people legally
immigrate to the U.S. each year (2014, Wikipedia). Current estimates place the total legal
immigrant U.S. population to be in excess of 40 million. In addition there approximately 11.5
million undocumented immigrants living and working in the U.S. (Furman et al., 2008)....

...SOCIALPOLICYSocialPolicy and the Welfare System
Leigh-Ann Hancock
Kaplan University
HN300-01 Human Services and SocialPolicy
Professor Lorena Lashway
May 1, 2012
SocialPolicy and the Welfare System
Over one hundred years ago poverty-stricken Americans’ means of assistance was met through families, local communities, and charities, typically religious. Following industrialization in the 1870s, the nation’s adult workforce was flooded by employers who were dependent on a continuing flow of money income to provide for themselves and their families (Historical Development, 1997). Over time, measures such as Mother’s pension laws, were adopted in a number of states which gave cash allowances to households without a wage-earning father so that the children could remain at home with their mother rather than being placed in institutions or foster homes (Historical Development, 1997). In the mid-twenties, some states even experimented with old-age assistance and aid to the blind. During this time the states and federal government began to realize that certain risks in an increasingly industrialized economy were best addressed through a social insurance approach to public welfare. This shifted the structure of the public welfare system...

...WHAT IS THE FUNCTION OF THE WELFARESTATE?
The question set is so broad that I shall have to be selective. I shall conduct my answer in relation to the British WelfareState. Before we can successfully understand the function of the WelfareState we must first be clear of its definition. Although I recognise that Britain has a long history of providing forms of welfare to its citizens though relief like the poor-law between the sixteenth and twentieth centuries, I intend to look at the post-war history of the WelfareState. I shall then move on to looking at the main provisions that the British WelfareState makes and how it works in a constantly changing society. I shall focus on the intimate relationship between the WelfareState and the family dipping into the function of the WelfareState in education and healthcare.
The majority of people would agree that Britain is a WelfareState'. However, if people were asked what they consider a welfarestate to be then the answers would be vague and varied, and it would be difficult to arrive at a widely accepted definition (Marsh, 1964). The concept of a WelfareState is a complex matter....

...……3-4
SOCIALWELFARE……………………………………………………………….......4
MIDGLEY’S APPROACH TO PROMOTING SOCIALWELFARESocial Philanthropy…………………………………………………….…………4-6
Social Work………….............................................................................................6-8
SocialPolicy and Social Administration..……………………...…………...…….8-9
IMPORTANCE OF SOCIALPOLICY…....….……………………………………9-10
REFERENCES………………………………...………………………………........…11
INTRODUCTION
Socialwelfare is commonly used to refer to the full range of organized activities of public and voluntary agencies that seek to prevent, alleviate, or contribute to the solution of a selected set of social problems. According to Midgley these include provisions for health care, education, economic development and sustenance, housing development and social well-being. (1995, 2) According to the Social Work Dictionary it is “a nation’s system of programs, benefits, and services that help people meet those social, economic, educational, and health needs that are fundamental to the maintenance of society.”
Welfare has been a reality of human for many years, however, in a less formal and structural way. Great dependency was made on the...

...﻿The term socialpolicy refers to a set of guidelines, policies, legislation, principles and activities that essentially affect human welfare. The development of these policies comes from within the communities; the policies need to develop to meet the needs, welfare and wellbeing of the population, from local government to national government (Alcock 2003).
Socialpolicy was introduced after the Second World War; there was a desperate need for key public services at this time. In its very early days it was based on William Beveridges (1942) report on the ‘five giants’, disease, idleness, ignorance, squalor and want. According to Beveridge (1942) to tackle these problems would be essential to the reconstruction of society after the war. But are the policies that have been made benefitting the population and are they solving the problems they were intended to, or are hidden giants such as sexism and racism (which the welfarestate had failed to address) key to the continuation of the problems that are present in modern day society (Spicker 2013).
The social problems that are visible throughout society today include family change and lone parents, homelessness, income and wealth, alcohol and drug misuse, crime disorder and community safety and caring and dependency....

...In this paper, I will discuss issues and ideas related to socialwelfare. They are found and outlined in the following articles: “Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising” written by the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD), “The Spirit Level: Why More Equal Societies Almost Always Do Better” written by Richard Wilkinson and Kate Pickett, “The Canadian dream is well within Reach” written by Amelia Karabegovic and Charles Lammam, and “Tackling Inequality Now” written by Sherri Torjman and Ken Battle”. I will also present my view against or for each article that is discussed.
In the first article, “Divided We Stand: Why Inequality Keeps Rising”, we are presented with a negative outlook towards the future of Canada’s society. OECD informs us of a growing division between the rich and the poor that continues to widen, not only in Canada, but in many countries over the world. The OECD (2011) states that in well-off economies, “the richest 10% of the population is about nine times that of the poorest 10%” (p. 2). One of the largest causes of income inequality comes from wages and salaries. Those who are classified as high income earners increase their salaries at a faster rate than those classified as low income earners. A contribution to the increase in income inequality is the technological progression. Workers who are highly skilled benefit with an increase in...

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David Garrett
SocialWelfarePolicy
11/23/14
#1 http://www2.potsdam.edu/alcohol.drivingissues/1103163004.html
DWI/DUI Sobriety Road Blocks or Check Points
-Michigan Supreme Court found sobriety checkpoints to be a violation of the Fourth Amendment of the Constitution.
-Split decision, US Supreme Court reversed the Michigan Court. Chief Justice Rehnquist acknowledge that roadblocks do violate the Constitution right, but went onto say they are necessary in order to reduce drunk driving. He argued that the end justifies the mean.
-US Supreme Court has made the DUI exemption to the Constitution yet 11 states have found that sobriety checkpoints violate their own states constitution.
-Mothers Against Drunk Driving (MADD) strongly promotes them, implies that sobriety roadblocks are legal throughout the entire United States without exception.
*June 14, 1990 US Supreme Court upheld the use of checkpoints to detect and and deter impaired drivers.
-MADD dismisses those who question the use of checkpoints are those who drink and drive frequently are concerned about being caught.
-Many arguments both for an against the use of checkpoint to reduce drunk driving.
-Many Law Enforcement officials and researchers believe that roving patrols are much more effective
-Dissenting Justice Brennan emphasized that the Constitution does not provide exceptions; “That stopping every car might...